The poll puts Theresa May's Conservatives on 40% — a massive
12-points ahead of Labour, which continues to languish below 30%
as the soap opera at the heart of the party shows no signs of
ending anytime soon.

This is what the ICM poll means for Business Insider's voting
intention poll tracker. The area to the right of the shaded line
illustrates how Corbyn's Labour has plummeted in the polls since
early to mid-July.

Business
Insider

This poll is the latest in a string of surveys which has
indicated an unprecedented gulf between the Tory government and
the Labour opposition. Last week, a TNS poll gave Labour its lowest rating as an opposition party since
1982. In a choice between Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, and
neither, more respondents went for 'neither' than Corbyn when
asked who they would prefer as prime minister.

Here is the outcome of Tuesday's ICM poll in
full:

Conservative: 40% (-3)

Labour: 28% (+1)

UKIP: 14% (+1)

Liberal Democrat: 8%
(=)

SNP 4% (=)

Green 4% (=)

Plaid Cymru 1% (=)

Other 1% (+1)

As Business Insider has pointed out on numerous occasions, the
opposition party really ought to be doing better at this stage in
the electoral cycle. History tells us that the electorate
typically grows sick of the government by this point, and
opposition parties almost always lead in the polls. For example,
on August 16 2011, exactly the same stage in the previous
electoral cycle, Ed Miliband's Labour party was 6-points ahead of the
Tories in a YouGov poll.

Optimistic Corbyn supporters may try to present the fact that the
Tory lead has been cut by three points since ICM's last survey as
a positive. In reality, the current Labour Party is
underperforming even by its very worst historical standards.

As this tweet by The Independent's John Rentoul shows, Corbyn is
currently performing even worse than former leader Michael Foot
did in the polls. Foot's Labour went on to get absolutely crushed
by Margaret Thatcher in the 1983 general election — guiding
Labour to its lowest vote share since 1918.

Labour is performing 8 points worse than under Foot at same stage in his leadership: Ipsos MORI via David Cowling pic.twitter.com/ChVPTklQ88